


We Are Not the Illuminati: Short Stories

by agendergrim



Category: Original Work
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-04
Updated: 2021-02-16
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:55:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 17,446
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23993377
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/agendergrim/pseuds/agendergrim
Summary: Following the events of the Illuminati incident, things are mostly back to normal within MOTH. But "normal" was never normal for an agency like MOTH.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 1





	1. STORY ONE | CHAPTER ONE

# STORY ONE | CHAPTER ONE

##  **NORTH AMERICA | LATE EVENING**

It’s cold out as it gets late, and I retreat further into my coat as I hurry to tug more at the zipper. My MOTH bag bumps at my thigh with every step, and things are silent as I walk alongside Null, who was more heavily covered than I was. Outfitted in a long coat, scarf, and sunglasses to top it off, there was no doubt we were a special duo to spot on the sidewalk, holding hands and going about our day.

I technically had a license, but not only do I lack a car, but I lack the motivation to drive one, so walking it is. I figure it’s a good workout, and besides, I knew that Null liked to leave the house. He’s looking around in amazement, looking up like a child seeing snow for the first time as leaves blow off the branches of trees. I find myself smiling to myself, enjoying the sight far too much.

A familiar face greets us from down the street, waving wildly at us. I wave casually back, and soon enough we arrive at the meeting spot in front of the large manor we were investigating tonight. Surely enough, I could feel some sort of aura from the manor, though hell if I could pinpoint what.

That’s where Dot came in. He smiles at Null and I, hands on his hips as he looks between the two of us. “So… how’s the lovebirds?”

“Oh, shush,” I shake my head and laugh. “We’re here on a job, Dot.”

“Still! We’re friends, right?” Dot looks up to Null. “C’mon, big guy. Tell me the hot deets.”

“I am unaware of what deets are,” Null informs Dot.

Dot leans in close, despite being unable to reach Null’s height. “How is DH in bed?”

“Asleep,” Null answers without missing a beat.

Dot mumbles, “Okay, shoulda expected that from him.”

I roll my eyes. “Are you gonna tell me the details of this mission, or…?”

“Oh, right, duh,” Dot snorts, grabbing his own bag and grabbing some papers, shuffling through them and reading over the information on them. “It’s pretty straightforward, really. Haunted house type thing. Research does trace back to a man committing suicide in this place way back in the 70s or 80s somethin’, but apparently this shit wasn’t a big deal until now.”

“What do you mean?” I ask.

“Well, there was always little things, I guess?” Dot taps at the papers. “I’m just readin’ the shit they gave me, DH, so work with me here. Basically, the ghost has always been around, but there hasn’t been a huge deal about it until now, ‘cause the most recent resident got sent to the _hospital._ ”

“Oh,” I blink a few times. What a lovely thing to open up with. “What happened?”

“I think a vase fell on his head or somethin’,” Dot shrugs. “That ain’t what’s important. I called you ‘n Null over ‘cause the spirit here is obviously pissed, and any regular medium might get seriously hurt, so.”

“So you called me because my skills improved that much?” I ask, eyes lighting up.

Dot snorts. “Fuck no. I called you because you got Null.”

“Oh.”

Dot bursts out laughing, ruffling up my hair, playful as ever. “I’m jokin’. Yeah, it’s ‘cause you’re the best of the best, DH. It does help that you have, like, King of the Cryptids for a boyfriend, though.”

Boyfriend. The word makes my face heat up, even though it was true. “Well, I am pretty excited to finally do more medium work again.”

“Again?” Dot grins. “You getting memories back?”

I give him a weak shrug. “It’s more of a feeling, I guess. Like, I know things happened. I feel the familiar feelings. But I can’t… remember it. Everyone else has by now, but… not me.”

“It’s alright,” Dot shrugs, and his usual casual attitude is somewhat comforting in this moment. “We got new memories to make anyways. Especially since you finally got around to finishing up beginner work! I cannot believe you were content as a secretary for two whole years, DH.”

I laugh at that. “It was calming to have some sort of control over things, I guess. Anyways. I’m trying to help this spirit pass on, right?”

“That’s right. Here,” Dot holds out the papers to me, and I accept them as he returns to staring up at the manor. “You two might be here a while ‘til night, but sometimes the ghost gets active a little before sunset, so we wanted to be sure. Gives you time to read over these yourself.”

“You’re not coming with?” I ask.

Dot shakes his head. “It’ll be irritatin’ enough to have both of you in there for that ghost. Add a third mofo like me and we might never get anything done.”

I nod. “Fair enough. Should I head in then?”

Dot gestures towards the manor. “Whenever you’re ready, DH. Good luck. I’ll be at the neighbor’s place if you’re in trouble, shoot me a message on your phone.”

It was a recent thing; Winter finally perfected the algorithm, so the agency started finally giving us work phones to use instead of always lugging around our laptops. Well, we still had the laptops and carried them everywhere—but the phone comes in handy for quick little things. I look up to Null. “Ready?”

Null nods.

As we walk up the steps, I hear Dot’s voice behind us. “Go get ‘em, DH!”

I chuckle and shake my head, opening the door. The feeling began the moment my feet had touched the steps, but the moment I’m through the door, I can feel it fully. I stand there, taking in the feelings surrounding me as Null closes the door behind us.

The thing about being a medium is that everything you learn is almost entirely from experience; there’s no explicit, written way to be a medium, because it’s different from medium to medium. It’s a lot of feeling, a lot of letting yourself become a little less real and a little more like the supernatural so you can understand them. So I let myself feel the heavy air. And it was _heavy_. It grew heavier and heavier until—

“ _Ow_ ,” I say aloud, rubbing at my back. “I know I’ve been hunched over lately, but… didn’t think my back was hurting that bad.”

Null tilts his head. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” I laugh at Null’s concern. “I just have bad posture, I think. Let’s find somewhere to sit down and get my laptop out.”

Null follows me as I walked through the manor. The halls are pretty small, with old looking carpets that stretched along the wooden boards. The walls look pretty newly painted, though a bit haphazardly—I could see spots where old paint peeked through. Maybe someone painted it themself. I look down at the papers in my hand. Guess I’ll find out the details soon enough.

It’s a couple doorways down to the living room. For a moment, it reminds me of my house; old fashioned with only the most basic touching up. The big difference, however, is that this place is even _older_ —it seems that a lot of stuff was pretty much left untouched. They looked like they’d been there for longer than I had been alive. Only two things seemed out of place—or well, weren’t there at all. A spot on the fireplace was oddly empty between all the knicknacks, and a very obvious spot on the wall used to hold something there—some sort of decoration that left one part of the wall differently colored from the rest.

I sit on the cushions of the sofa, and it’s incredibly _uncomfortable_. Stiff and oddly textured, these were pretty obviously meant for decoration only. Null sits beside me as I slip my laptop from my bag and place it gently onto the wooden coffee table. Yeesh, this place was a museum of stuff. The wood creaks a little at almost every touch, and it lets out a low groan as I lean forward to enter in my password and pull up the chatroom to keep an eye on. However, my focus was now the papers Dot had given me.

For the most part, I just skim over the words, knowing what I’m looking for. Dot pretty much gave me everything there was to know. This place was _incredibly_ unassuming for years. Nothing on it at all. A family of four, a mother, father, and two kids, originally lived in this house when it was built sometime in the 20s. The father committed suicide in his 50s, though there isn’t anything on why. According to his family, he hadn’t been acting all that different. Though, it doesn’t seem their opinion on him were very… happy. Something was off-putting about it, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. I couldn’t tell if this was a genuine case of white picket fence family hiding something ominous, or if my time in MOTH has skewed my view on these things.

I sigh as I shove the papers into my bag, leaning back over to my laptop. Nothing was really happening in the chat, and I know I won’t find anything more on this place online—that was, after all, the work of the other agents. To get as much information as possible for the field agents to use. But man, there really wasn’t much to work with.

Null watches me carefully. “You seem bothered.”

I groan as I collapse back against the sofa. “I am. There’s nothing to really work with here. I’m just gonna have to wing it.”

“Wing it?” Null tilts his head curiously.

“Um, it’s like…” _How do you even explain that?_ “It’s like… when you gotta improvise because you didn’t really get to prepare for it.” _Yeah, I guess that works._

“I see,” Null says, though his expression as usual doesn’t change much. I notice he hasn’t taken off his sunglasses or scarf, and thought about mentioning it when the temperature in the room _drops_. I instinctively look around, though of course, nothing is physically out of place. That feeling is back again, aching back, a headache. I feel incredibly tired and rub at my eyes.

Null notices. “Tired?”

I shake my head. “I think it’s the influence of the spirit.”

Null lets out an interested noise. “You are very in touch with the feelings of spirits. More so than those of humans, aren’t you?”

I blink up at him. “I’m gonna assume that was a genuine question and not a jab at my social skills.”

“I would not jab you.”

I let out a giggle at that. “Well, yeah. It’s true. Owlet says the same thing. I thought it was ‘cause of my previous training and memories ‘n all, but they said I was always like that. Except I had the tendency to get really distracted.”

Speaking of, I was already getting distracted. By the time I look around again however, the temperature seems to have returned to normal. _Damn, missed the chance to make contact…_ I decided to shrug it off, in the end. Spirits don’t tend to make contact so quickly anyhow—even if they don’t have some sort of lingering consciousness, they tend to stake out whatever new entity has entered their domain, in a sense. That was likely what this spirit was doing.

I look to Null. “How do spirits react to you?”

Null tilts his head. “Come again? I don’t quite understand what you’re asking.”

“Like…” I move my hands as I try to think up a way to explain. “I’m just wondering… spirits react to humans the way they do usually because humans are… y’know. Humans. They don’t have any sort of aura or spiritual powers outside of mediums ‘n all. Does your aura like… spook ‘em? Make ‘em more comfortable?”

Null chuckles, and his smile makes me melt a little. “Atlas has asked me a similar question. Him and that Hercules agent, they had questioned if I would get in the way of missions such as these.” He shifts positions, seemingly becoming more relaxed against the couch’s cushions, despite how uncomfortable they were. “But do not worry your little head. The most a spirit or creature tend to react to me with is curiosity, outside of the few creatures I know personally.”

“Friends or enemies?” I ask.

Null lets out a short, brief chuckle that’s from deep in his chest. “I suppose both.”

“Who would be enemies with you?” I ask him with a smile, and his smile is so genuine back, I have to look away to my laptop a moment from how flustered I got.

“I don’t wish to make enemies,” He explains. “But there wasn’t much choice. Thankfully, I do have more friends. I have a being who I consider a brother, as I often took care of him… though I’m unsure of where he is now. He visited the human world far more often than I ever did. Though, I would imagine Agent Cecropia would have more of a chance of seeing him…”

“Japan, huh? Maybe we could ask them to look into finding him.”

“Perhaps,” Null muses aloud. “It’s been quite some time now… I’m sure he’s holding up well without me. Though our powers are different… he’s still just as powerful. But I can’t help but worry, being somewhat of a big brother to him…”

_Man… I never knew Null had anything close to family. Then again, I guess I never asked…_ “I didn’t know you guys had family and stuff, really.”

Null shakes his head. “We don’t have words for the feelings between us. It was why it was so hard, for so long, to put into words the way I felt about you. Humans pin a word to everything they can. We creatures of the other world… we do not. We simply are. I suppose I just have gotten used to labeling certain feelings.”

“The humans are getting to you,” I joke.

“I don’t mind,” Null says in a content tone, looking comfortable on the couch, somehow. “I quite like the human experience. The Illuminati was a very bad first impression.”

I snort. “I think that’s an understatement.”

“Indeed.”

I see the chat is alive, and the house is, unfortunately, very quiet and uneventful. I look to Null, and he looks ready to nap as usual. He spends a lot of time at home napping on the couch, and though Sunset and I both worried that maybe it was some sort of supernatural symptom of depression, it turns out Null just likes naps.

I figure it wouldn’t hurt to jump into the chat for a bit.


	2. STORY ONE | CHAPTER TWO

#  STORY ONE | CHAPTER TWO

##  **MOTH ORGANIZATION: AGENT GROUP CHAT**

BEE: ONLINE

WINTER: ONLINE

ATLAS: ONLINE

Bee: winter!!!! :D

Bee: werent you grocery shopping…???? :o

Winter: i am!!! （＾ω＾）

Bee: wha… then what are you doing in here!!!

Winter: i am on my phone ｡^‿^｡

Atlas: … When did this chat become fun and not business.

Bee: i think that happened a looong time back, Atlas… ;;;

Bee: i mean, we still do business-y stuff too!!!! sometimes… well… hmm… not really, i guess, but… 

Bee: … sometimes!!!

DOT: ONLINE

Dot: whats up tater tots

Dot: just dropped dh n null off

Dot: hanging out at this old ladys place in the mean time and lemme tell you it smells like old people feet to the max

Dot: like i cannot emphasize enough how rank it is in here

Atlas: I can send agents to drop off a tent if you’d prefer.

Dot: oh fuck no lol

Dot: wake up with a daddy long leg in my asscrack no thanks

Atlas: The scent of evergreens doesn’t tempt you?

Dot: ill deal with old people feet thanks boss

Atlas: Suit yourself.

Bee: whenever i imagined more intense agent work, i didnt really expect it to be… well… sitting in a tent waiting for something to happen…

Bee: i mean not always!!! but its pretty common…

Atlas: The supernatural is a fickle thing.

Dot: unless its null lol

Winter: or me (・ω<)

Dot: is that a threat

Winter: (・ωｰ)～☆

HORNET: ONLINE

Bee: HORNETHORNETGOHOHNGFGFDDSGKGF

Hornet: Oh dear, are you okay Bee?

Bee: YES IM JUST EXCITED

Hornet: Whew, good. How is everyone?

Bee: GREAT NOW :D

Winter: the ever elusive hornet returns to us!!!! Σ(･口･)

Hornet: Oh c’mon, I’ve been on more lately!

Hornet: Things aren’t as busy. I guess it’s just that time of the year!

Atlas: I wish I could say the same.

Bee: poor Atlas :(

Winter: moment of silence for atlas’ free time (T＿T)

Dot: 🕯️🕯️🕯️

Atlas: You’re all as charming as ever.

Atlas: I’m quite content being busy, really.

Atlas: These days it’s a comfortable busy. It’s not too bad. Sure, sometimes it gets stressful but…

Atlas: I feel like a normal man. Something about that comforts me.

Bee: good :)

Hornet: I can relate to an extent. I love my job, really. Even with only one hand it’s not too bad!

Hornet: Except for when I use speech to text… that can get frustrating. But it’s easier than texting…

Bee: i remember you texting to me that you found my favorite sasquatch at the store and i was so confused and asking the chat if there was more than one sasquatch… 

Hornet: I just wanted to say soup… 

Winter: do u mean voice recognition??? i think u were mixing up text to speech hehe (^_-)-☆

Hornet: Aw, c’mon Winter, give me a break… 

Hornet: I may have grown up with English, but it’s still not my first language you know!

DEATH’S HEAD: ONLINE

Dot: god this place is rank as shit did the granny rub her feet everywhere i swear

Dot: oh sup dh

Death’s Head: oh

Death’s Head: cant say im happy about entering the chat to those words

Hornet: Dot I will beg you if I have to. Please stop talking about old granny feet.

Dot: i will not

Hornet: Please.

Atlas: I think I’m going to have to side with Hornet here and formally ask you to refrain from talking about an old granny’s feet smell.

Dot: wheres it say i cant in the rules big guy

Dot: lets go baby i know the law

Winter: i think it is a rule of society, yes? (｀∀´)Ψ

Dot: and i thot i could trust u winter…

Death’s Head: i see the chats as lively as ever?

Atlas: So it is.

Atlas: I though you were on a mission, Death’s Head?

Death’s Head: i am, but i think the ghost is gonna take its sweet time… 

Death’s Head: its more likely to come out when i least expect it anyways

Death’s Head: im killing time while null naps

Dot: is that all he does

Dot: he naps on the job i wish that were me

Dot: instead im just sitting here with old lady feet smell

Bee: dot i think you have a problem???

Dot: yeah its called this place is RANK and im gonna be smellin like old lady feet till i DIE

Death’s Head: maybe ill kill time a different way?

Dot: okay okay im done

Dot: its just annoyin alright i kno for a fact u all wouldnt last without mentioning it either

Hornet: Yeah, mention it maybe ONCE?

Hornet: You’ve made the entire chat about old lady feet!

Dot: aint my fault im the center of attention babe

Dot: 😎😎😎🌟🌟🌟

Hornet: Death’s Head, how have you been?

Dot: WOW

Death’s Head: ive been doing better. its nice to be finally really out in the field.

Hornet: Yeah, I heard you’ve been relearning things from Owlet, huh?

Death’s Head: yeah… theyre a really good teacher. they seem to like null a lot, too, hehe.

Death’s Head: i found myself getting along really well with them and trusting them pretty easily. at first i thought it was just, yknow… that we had a lot in common or a medium thing. but then i was reminded that i had trained with them originally, too.

Death’s Head: i wonder if my body and heart just… remembers. its just my mind that doesnt.

Hornet: I think that makes sense. Well, actually, I’m not sure on second thought… if you lose your memories, does that include muscle memory? And all that other subtle stuff… I’ve never looked into that, admittedly.

Death’s Head: i dont think the doctors ever told me anything about it either. probably because it wasnt really necessary… 

Death’s Head: or because they werent… 

Death’s Head: well, thats behind us now.

Dot: owlet likes null huh

Dot: jealous?

Death’s Head: of what? im glad to have more people in the agency who like null. a lot of people are afraid of him. i mean, hes not even allowed in headquarters without me… 

Atlas: A large amount of agents are aware of the fact he toppled the entire Illuminati Headquarters himself.

Death’s Head: yeah but he did it to save us atlas

Death’s Head: i dont think plume would be alive if it wasnt for null

Death’s Head: oleander, hornet, me, we’d all be trapped to this day, i bet.

Death’s Head: i dont care what anyone says about null. hes never been anything but kind and sweet and caring. he was trapped longer than any of us, but he has nothing but kindness and love in his heart

Dot: oof you hit a sore spot boss

Atlas: I apologize, Death’s Head.

Atlas: I mean nothing bad towards Null. Just… I understand without the full story, most agents would be wary.

Atlas: It’s a very new concept to us.

Atlas: But Null is a wonderful creature to teach us. He’s been nothing but cooperative and kind. I’m sure he’ll break through to the others.

Atlas: Even Hercules, someday.

Death’s Head: i hope so

Death’s Head: im sick of leaving him out of things… hes so accepting but its painful to do that to him. he wants so badly to be part of MOTH and … and… 

Death’s Head: he just wants to… be like… 

Hornet: Human?

Death’s Head: …yeah, i guess that is the word i was looking for

Hornet: He’s always been kinda like that, huh?

Hornet: In the time I knew him, he always was curious about pretty much any of the normal people in the Illuminati.

Hornet: I think he saw the beauty in normal humans and wanted to experience that. We’d sing together and I’d tell him about Bee… he almost had this sort of longing in his eyes.

Hornet: Oh, but that’s just what I picked up.

Hornet: I just think he’s cool. I’m on Death’s Head’s side here. I’ve seen some freaky stuff with Null, but in the end, I find a lot of comfort in having him around.

Hornet: I can’t wait to see what he can do to help MOTH, really. He must be eager.

Death’s Head: he is!!

Death’s Head: its cute, the way he lights up whenever i say we have a mission. hes really happy about becoming an agent

Bee: null is such a sweetie!!!! :D

Atlas: Yes, I’m sure he’ll have the hearts of the whole agency in no time.

Death’s Head: he certainly has mine

Dot: GET A ROOOOOOOM 🤢🤢🤢

Bee: AWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D

Winter: hehe, two types of people it seems （＾ｖ＾）

Hornet: Well, I hope the best for you two. :)

Hornet: However… you’ve been here quite some time now, Death’s Head. What kind of mission are you on?

Hornet: I generally never have time to hop onto chat during missions.

Death’s Head: oh, yeah, im just needing to contact a spirit in this house… from what ive gathered its not exactly a particularly super dangerous one or anything

Death’s Head: just some middle aged man, i guess

Death’s Head: there hasnt been much activity at all. so much so that nulls napping and im on here

Death’s Head: whats your work usually like hornet?

Hornet: Oh! Well, it varies depending on the case. But being a Recon Agent and Spy, I have to make sure to pay attention to detail, so I can’t really be in the chatroom unless it’s to relay important information to you guys.

Hornet: Recon’s not always particularly intense, unless it’s an area with active creatures. I just find it ineffective if I’m on my phone.

Death’s Head: makes sense. you do other stuff too?

Hornet: Occasionally! Fact of the matter is, our division is more action, less information gathering. We’re the ones who have been trained to deal with the worst of the worst.

Hornet: So there’s not actually a lot of recon missions for me, because the less intense ones are for lower divisions. And usually, recon missions aren’t very intense.

Hornet: So I end up doing some other stuff fit for an agent my level. Recon is just what I specialize in.

Hornet: I’m considered a Spy as well, but technically I’m still training for it, especially since Plume is back, and Plume’s the best. It’s a very difficult position, but it’s also not exactly the most commonly needed position, so I don’t get many missions for that, either.

Hornet: I have to admit, I’m kind of surprised you didn’t know at least some of that! It’s a sort of common knowledge when you’ve worked at MOTH for a while.

Death’s Head: I guess I’ve spent so long being a secretary and recovering from all the Illuminati stuff I just… didn’t pay attention to work outside of mine.

Hornet: That’s fair.

Hornet: Glad I could teach you something, then.

Bee: hornets so cool :)

Hornet: Aw, come on Bee…

Winter: it is true!!! (⋋▂⋌)

Winter: hornet is irreplaceable agent! even with missing hand you work more than agent with two!!!

Hornet: Aww, guys… 

Atlas: Indeed. What would the Second Division be without you, Hornet.

Hornet: Aw, Atlas… that is a big compliment coming from you!

Atlas: Admittedly, the same can be said for any of the Second Division.

Atlas: But it doesn’t make what I say mean any less.

Winter: (¬､¬) it does when you say it directly after the compliment… 

Hornet: Aw, give him a break, Winter. Thank you, Atlas. I understand what you mean.

Hornet: Ugh, it’s getting annoying switching between typing and voice stuff… I’m gonna go take a well deserved break from MOTH.

Hornet: Don’t cause too much trouble while I’m gone!

Dot: you know we will

Hornet: I know.

Bee: LOVE YOU HORNET SEE YOU LATER !!!!!

Hornet: See you Bee!!! Love you too!!! Great job as always!!!

HORNET: OFFLINE

Bee: :)

Death’s Head: man… theres so much im out of the loop about despite these past two years dedicating myself to. improving.

Death’s Head: i still feel like such an outsider? if that makes sense

Atlas: You’re still on the path to recovery, Death’s Head.

Atlas: Don’t hurry your progress. You’re doing just fine. Even Hercules has mentioned you’ve been pushing yourself hard, considering we hadn’t expected you to be back on missions within the first year of recovery.

Winter: HERCULES?!?!?! Σ(ﾟДﾟ)

Bee: but wait… doesn’t Hercules work herself too??

Atlas: I am going to refrain from talking about my boss in such a way.

Dot: so yes

Atlas: I will not comment. Moving on.

Dot: really says somethin that hercules said somethin 🤔

Dot: no offense to her n all except full offense shes kinda the epitome of married to your job

Dot: tho i guess thas cause

Dot: well i aint gonna be that rude and bring it up

Dot: just, man, we all got therapy, wheres hers? shit lol

Dot: even luna finally gave in and got therapy after the illuminati shit

Atlas: Hercules is head of the entirety of MOTH. If she says she doesn’t need therapy, she won’t get it, no matter how many people urge her, no matter how many times we do.

Atlas: We’ve had professionals try and convince her. But she is certainly a stubborn lady.

Dot: thot u said u werent gonna talk about ur boss like that

Atlas: … So now you pay attention to everything I say?

Atlas: You just hear what you want to hear, I swear.

Dot: u right i aint gon lie

Death’s Head: i hope she gets help. i dont know much about her, and if im honest, im a little weary of her… the way she thinks, i know its not… its not the same as azrael, i know

Death’s Head: but it scares me, how she treats null, i guess.

Atlas: You’re aware of why, correct?

Death’s Head: yeah. but it just makes it worse.

Death’s Head: its pretty similar to the reason azrael was the way she was about supernatural creatures.

Death’s Head: i dont know, i know hercules isnt azrael, but i know she was effected by her. im scared of whatll happen if she doesnt get help.

Atlas: Hmm. I never even thought of it that way, I have to admit.

Atlas: That’s something I’ll bring up with Sunset, then. Perhaps we can break through to her if we can get her to understand the risk she’s causing to the agency and herself.

Dot: why not get luna?

Dot: for reasons i cant mention or whatever yadda yadda we all know lunas the big boss’s daughter so whatevs

Atlas: Why would you mention you aren’t allowed to speak of the reasons, only to speak of them?

Dot: iunno we’re all just throwing words to the wind waiting to become dust

Atlas: … I wish you could hear me sigh.

Atlas: Anyhow, Luna’s tried plenty of times. Even suggested family therapy, when she had gotten more used to therapy. But Hercules won’t budge.

Atlas: Perhaps I should bring Luna into a chat with Sunset about it… but that’s for another time.

Bee: i hope things work out :( i dont know hercules well but i think shes a good person just dealing with a lot :(

Bee: i cant imagine leading a whole entire agency… especially when you have a loooot of stuff from the past hanging from your head

Bee: or over your head?

Dot: its over your head

Bee: thanks!

Bee: but yeah.

Dot: ay boss

Atlas: Hm?

Dot: when agent maple kicked the bucket, hercules was only second in command, wasnt she?

Dot: did she not get therapy for that shit? cause from what ive gathered bout it, it was pretty fucked

Atlas: She did. But people do relapse, Dot.

Dot: oh trust me i kno

Dot: just makin sure

Dot: maybe bring that up? iunno im just tryna distract myself from this rank ass place

Dot: old lady is sweet as hell but i wish she fucking had febreeze. or better feet smell

Death’s Head: hey guys, think i heard something

Death’s Head: i might be back on if its nothing but we’ll see

Atlas: Good luck, Death’s Head.

Dot: u got this DH 👍

Bee: GOOD LUCK!!!!!

Winter: ditto !!!! (￣▽￣)ゞ

Death’s Head: thanks guys!

DEATH’S HEAD: OFFLINE


	3. STORY ONE | CHAPTER THREE

#  STORY ONE | CHAPTER THREE

##  **NORTH AMERICA | NIGHT**

I leave the laptop open, just in case this was nothing and I was free to waste my time away reading what bullshit Dot had to say. I have to admit, all the talk about Hercules has shaken me up some, but Null is next to me, snoozing away, and things are okay for now.  _ And that’s what matters. Just remind yourself. It’s okay. _

Another noise.  _ If that’s the spirit… I think it’s time to get to work. _

I stand up carefully, despite the fact Null was a heavy sleeper. Noises hardly ever woke him up. He’s explained it’s that sixth sense that all supernatural creatures seemed to have, that allowed them to feel a situation around them. Basically, he told me if he doesn’t feel as if he has to wake up, he just doesn’t. There’s comfort in that right now. He must not sense any danger.

I step around the couch, taking a look around. The sounds were vague, but muffled, so I was pretty sure they were coming from upstairs. The temperature and air here was calm, so the spirit definitely wasn’t nearby. I take a deep breath, and step outside the living room.

The hall is eerily quiet, outside of the creak of wood. The window at the end allowed moonlight to stream in, lighting up the otherwise dark house. It was beautiful, even if a bit… foreboding.  _ Ugh. MOTH gets to me, I swear…  _

I take one step onto the staircase, and it groans deeply, like a hungry monster. Every step, I felt like I was stepping into the mouth of something horrible. The temperature drops the higher I go, and that’s how I know I’m on the right track.

As I reach the top of the steps, I find there’s only a few doors up here. The hall is more or less the same as the one downstairs, complete with some old dusty rug and an eerie window at the end. I reach into my bag and pull out the spooky meter. I knew by now it was actually some sort of modified EMF meter, but… I like calling it a spooky meter.

I turn it on, and it buzzes to life, taking a moment to scan around me for an initial reading. Surely enough, green appears in seconds. It’s all over the place, minus maybe one room. There’s a chunk of it taken out, but that was Null’s presence. The only downside to bringing Null along. But it wasn’t a big deal in this case, because there was one room where the green was most dense. I step up to the door to my left, take a deep breath, and reach for the doorknob.

I’m surprised when the door opens smoothly, no creaks, no moans, no groans. The room is freezing cold as soon as I enter it, and I feel like something is wrapping around my lungs and squeezing. I take deep breaths, trying to calm down the fear building up in my heart.  _ There’s nothing to fear. You’ve got this. This is just the natural response to supernatural activity. _

There’s something off about the room. It looks totally normal, is the thing; it was some sort of office. A desk with a bulky computer that was no longer plugged in. A rug as old as the others rugs in this place. Bookcases that reached the ceiling, though they were totally empty of any books. The only thing out of place was the office chair sitting in the middle of the entire room. It was definitely an oddly specific place to leave a chair. I try not to think too much about it.

I look down at the meter. This was definitely the place where the spirit was most active, and I definitely could feel that. Yet, there’s no sort of sign otherwise. I’m not surprised at the lack of communication, but there is generally some sort of reaction when someone enters the area where a spirit is most active… sorta like a reflex.

_ Unless the spirit wanted me here,  _ I suddenly realized.

I turn to the door a second too late. It slams shut, and I feel the air knocked from my lungs as something grabs at my wrist and forces the meter out of my hands. It flies to the ground with an awfully loud  _ crack _ . I look at the broken meter in horror.  _ Shit. I’m gonna have to pay for that. _

Just like that, it quiets. Calm. I’m trying to catch my breath, hands on my knees, looking like an old man out of breath. What the hell was that? I couldn’t make sense of this damn spirit. They usually didn’t understand what the meters are. So why was this one so angry about it? At least, that’s what I assumed. I take another look around the room, wondering if anything else happened that I didn’t notice.

No. Nothing. Nothing moved, nothing out of place. Just a broken spooky meter lying at the wheels of an office chair. I sigh, walking over and crouching to grab it. I slip it back into my bag, since there wasn’t much reason to keep it out, especially if this spirit didn’t like it.

The chair suddenly is kicked back and I spring up, standing straight up and waiting, watching, to see if the spirit was planning on anything else. But nothing. The chair is a foot away now. That was it.

As I take another last look around, I realize what’s so unsettling about this place. Where the rest of the house is filled with dust and age, this place looks new. Well. Maybe not new, considering the style of the furniture and the computer sitting at the desk. It looks like it was preserved. Like I took a step back into the past.

_ Well… I suppose I should try communicating with the spirit before it gets any angrier. _

I clear my throat before speaking. “Um, excuse me, spirit. I’m not here to hurt you, or to take anything of yours, nor am I a new resident of this house. I just… wanna talk, if you’re willing.”

Silence. That wasn’t surprising. Spirits weren’t always entirely sentient beings. Sometimes they are literal ghosts of the past, working like a program, executing the same sort of code over and over. They either can’t process new things happening, or they have a hard time understanding it. Even those that are more human tend to have difficulties interacting with the physical world. So, I shrug, and turn to leave.

Then, the computer boots up.

I stare at the screen, knowing damn well that thing wasn’t plugged in. Cautious, but curious, I turn back to watch from a little bit of distance. Always had to be wary of spirits. Even if they don’t mean harm, they don’t always have control over their powers.

I watch as pictures are slowly opened. They pop up on the desktop here and there. Pictures of what seemed to be an ordinary family doing ordinary things, complete with camera dates in the corner and blurry nonsensical shots inbetween. I recognize them as the family I saw in the papers Dot gave me. It’s mostly sweet pictures of the two kids, from toddlers to kids to teens. Celebrating birthdays, holidays, playing in a little kiddie pool. The photos sometimes got a shot of the very house I’m standing in in the background, brand new. Occasionally, a shot of the mother and father were in there with the kids. Nothing out of place. Just a family.

Then, suddenly, documents start opening up frantically. Spreadsheets, tables, graphs, emails, all sorts of things start opening up at an alarmingly fast rate, overtaking every single pixel of color with a monochromatic nightmare of numbers and percentages. It kept going, and going, and going, until the entire screen was covered in different windows of different documents and—

I jumped as suddenly, the computer lets out a large spark, lighting up the room for a moment. Then, silence. The computer’s screen was black, and the back of it was smoking. The computer that was never even plugged in just short-circuited itself.

Was the spirit trying to contact me? What was it trying to tell me? There wasn’t really anything out of the ordinary at first glance, at least. The pictures were totally unassuming, cute even, the kind of stuff that my parents probably have saved on their old computer somewhere of me, too. All those documents are what I assume to be part of the father’s job back when he was alive. He worked for some sort of business, I think. An office worker. I began to piece together what might’ve happened, slowly but surely.

“I can help you,” I offer out to the spirit. “I can-”

_ “I don’t need help.” _

I jump a little at being interrupted so suddenly. The voice is clearly an older man, pretty much what you think of when you think of a middle aged father of two who works overtime. He sounds more tired, however, than mad. That was probably what was the most surprising.

I had to think over my next words. After all, a lot of spirits that come from humans don’t even know that they’re dead. It can upset them to bring that up, so, I wasn’t really sure how to go about this… 

“Do you realize the situation you’re in?” I decide to ask.

The response is quick. I guess the spirit got the hang of communicating directly.  _ “I know that I’m dead. I know what I’m doing. I’m the man of this house. I know my fuckin’ house.” _

Okay,  _ now  _ he’s starting to sound angry. I need to tread carefully.  _ Especially when I’ve always been sensitive to yelling. This could turn even more stressful than it needs to be.  _ “Then… what are you doing? You don’t wanna move on?”

These questions seem to stump the spirit for a good few minutes. I fiddle with the end of my sleeve, trying my best to wait patiently for an answer. I was always terrible at sitting still, but unfortunately, that was part of the job sometimes.

Finally, he answers.  _ “If I could move on, I would’ve already. So I protect my house. I worked for every inch of this damn house. Every single nail in the floorboards, I worked for that. Sweat, blood, and tears all went into this house. I am the man of this house.” _

No wonder he can’t move on. He’s so stuck to this idea of being the man of the house. His spirit is too attached to move on. “What are you protecting the house from?”

_ “Ungrateful kids who try to take away all my hard work,”  _ He answers in a grumble.  _ “All the people before, they left the house as it was. I bet they knew. They knew I worked for this damn house. But that new kid? Tried changing up everything. Painting the walls, replacing shit with all this new technology. Sick of these gameboys and these little tiny phones. All of it. And he wanted to replace a classic painting with a flat screen TV? It’s disgusting.” _

My mouth speaks before I can think, “But… wouldn’t that guy have had to work to get this house too? To get that TV? It’s not exactly cheap stuff to buy a TV like that.”

_ “I’m the man of the house,”  _ The voice gets louder, more stern, and I feel the nerves bubbling up in me.  _ “And what I say goes. Because all of this? I worked for it. I worked so fucking hard until the day I died.” _

“And that’s what lead to your death,” I tell the spirit. “You worked yourself too hard. You let your life get overwhelmed by work.”

_ “What other choice did I have? I had to support my family. I had to pay off everything. I had to pay for everything they ever wanted. I had to keep them happy and safe. How the hell else was I supposed to do it?” _

“Did you ever talk to them?” I ask him.

A pause.  _ “Of course not. They didn’t deserve that kinda stress.” _

“They got it anyways,” I told him. “You took it out on them anyways. Did you never realize that?”

Another pause.  _ “I… I didn’t… I didn’t want to be any less of a man, showing weakness, you know?” _

I  _ really  _ didn’t have the time to be getting into how toxic masculinity and capitalism screwed this guy over. “So, being a man was bottling up your emotions until they exploded? Being a man was never accepting help to a point of it breaking you down?”

_ “I didn’t need help.” _

“You needed help.”

Quiet. For a second, I wonder if I upset him, if he was about to start throwing things in the room.

Then he speaks again.  _ “I suppose you’re right. For someone so young, you’ve certainly got a lot of wisdom under your belt.” _

“I get that a lot,” I mumble. A half lie. It’s between being called dense and wise, depending the situation. “Look, you can’t change the past. But you can let go of it. You don’t need to be the man of this house anymore. You don’t need to hold onto that hurt. You can let go. Be happy with your family again.”

As soon as I spoke those last words, the air shifted. The cold chill was gone, and in a blink, the room changed. Dusty, paint peeling, the floorboards creaking when I shifted from one foot to the other. All that was left of what had happened was the smoking computer.  _ Hopefully that’s not a fire hazard? _

I open the door, and it creaks  _ painfully  _ loud. I almost wish the room hadn’t changed back. The stairs are just as creaky, but that heavy air is gone, and I return to the living room to see Null awake, waiting for me with a big smile on his face, pointed teeth peeking.

“You felt the spirit left?” I ask him with a laugh.

He nods. “Congratulations, Death’s Head.”

I let out a relieved sigh as I collapse onto the couch beside him, shaking my head. “First mission on my own. Ever. I guess that goes for you, too.”

“I suppose,” he pats my head, and I snort at the gesture. He’s as stiff as ever, but that’s part of his charm. “But you certainly put in the work.”

“Guess I did.”

I let out a yawn, and pull out my phone. I think about that spirit, how stuck he was. I look to Null, who seemed right back to relaxing again, but this time with a smile on his face. I guess working for MOTH, we were pretty lucky. Yeah, the job could be hard sometimes. But they paid well, and I certainly didn’t feel overworked. I had to thank my parents, too. Despite our past, they’ve made amends in supporting me until I got back on my feet. And I think to myself,  _ yeah, I guess I can see that worry from that spirit in them. And a little bit in myself too, these days. _

Maybe I should call them up tomorrow. Check on them. Or maybe I should take a day to myself and breathe. After all, it’s not like I can tell them about Null yet… Either way, I let that first mission be a lesson. Never gonna let anything get in the way of my own happiness. Easier said than done, of course, but a good thing to stick by anyways.

I get a buzz on my phone almost immediately after sending a message. Atlas.

_ Great work, Agent Death’s Head. I knew you could do it. _

The message from Dot afterwards, however, was entirely different.

_ Thank fuck. I’m sick of old lady feet smell. _


	4. STORY TWO | CHAPTER ONE

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Death's Head and Null are tasked with dissuading a new, small cult from getting further involved in dangerous rituals.

#  STORY TWO | CHAPTER ONE

##  **MOTH ORGANIZATION: AGENT GROUP CHAT**

DOT: ONLINE

BEE: ONLINE

SUNSET: ONLINE

Dot: well this is a group of people

Sunset: astute observation there mate

Dot: suck my dick and balls bud

Bee: you guys are just saying hi in a jokingly mean way, right?

Sunset: oi poor thing thinks this is a joke

Bee: you dont really hate each other though

Bee: right???

DEATH’S HEAD: ONLINE

Dot: well if it isnt my favorite little cryptid fucker

Death’s Head: please stop saying that as soon as i enter the chatroom

Dot: what im just stating facts

Death’s Head: you are not

Sunset: i don wanna think of that so im wit deaths head

Dot: yall are literally no fun

Dot: killjoys 😒😒😒

Dot: wheres winter

Death’s Head: can i please talk

Dot: go on cryptid lover 69

Death’s Head: youve drained me of all my energy dot

Dot: its what i do best

Sunset: lean aff the lad for fucks sake ya fuckin reprobate

Sunset: pure mental you are

Dot: agh …………. scottish …………. my weakness

Sunset: ya fuckin wee bastart cannae even speak witout yer damned shite

Sunset: go on then mate, ignore dot

Death’s Head: thanks sunset… im just so tired

Death’s Head: got assigned to a new case, which is great n all but…

Death’s Head: am i the only one unsettled by anything cult related no matter how small?

Death’s Head: agh, i dont know, it might just be because of the Illuminati incident n all

Death’s Head: but like … cults are generally pretty unsettling right?? thats not just me???

Bee: yeah definitely !! i really dont like cults either :(

Bee: i dont have the trauma some of the others in MOTH do, but i dont really think anyone likes cults besides … well… cult leaders i guess?

Bee: since people part of cults dont even realize theyre in one and are brainwashed and all that… i wouldnt even count them

Dot: cults are wack hate em

Dot: nobody good ever makes cults

Dot: they capitalize on peoples fears and insecurities for their own good

Dot: any shit about believin theyre helping them is utter and complete bullshit

Dot: but id say im more annoyed by em then unsettled

Dot: i think theyre sick and not in the good way

Sunset: am wit dot on this one

Sunset: aint no dobbers runnin those things

Sunset: pure mental but they nae what theyre doin

Death’s Head: yeah… 

Death’s Head: if it wasnt obvious, my most recent assignment has to do with a new cult

Death’s Head: is that common to deal with?

CECROPIA: ONLINE

Death’s Head: oh, heya cecropia

Cecropia: Greetings everyone. Good to see you, Death’s Head.

Cecropia: As for your question, the answer is a surprising no.

Cecropia: Cults are often not under MOTH’s jurisdiction, as MOTH is an agency dedicated to anything involving supernatural beings.

Cecropia: Despite the often supernatural origin of religions, most of them don’t actually do anything that successfully puts them in contact or direct danger having to do with said supernatural entities.

Cecropia: A majority of them are entirely made up no matter how deeply believed, another majority very purposely made up for scamming people. Another common situation is worshipping something real, but they simply do exactly that. None of their rituals or attempts to contact said beings actually ever come to fruition.

Cecropia: As such, MOTH only handles cults under very specific circumstances.

Sunset: thas pretty much it

Dot: yeah cecropia got it down perfectly as usual

Death’s Head: just my luck then to be stuck with all the assignments including them… 

Cecropia: It may be an unpleasant job, but it’s certainly an important one. As said before, there are only very extreme cases of cults ever brought to MOTH’s agents.

Cecropia: We’re not just an authority dealing with weird suspicious groups of people, after all. They can’t hand us just anything.

Dot: tho theres been mistakes before but that aint anyones fault

Dot: still funny tho lol

Cecropia: Yes, at times even MOTH will mistake something entirely normal for a supernatural entity or something with supernatural origins.

Cecropia: But, it keeps us on our toes at least. Better to be safe than sorry.

Dot: and its funny

Cecropia: Not everything is about entertainment, Dot.

Dot: kicks you

Cecropia: ?

Dot: i think i made myself pretty clear

Cecropia: We’re over text.

Dot: im doing it spiritually

Dot: my spirit is holding your spirit in a chokehold

Cecropia: I’m not involving myself in your odd roleplay.

Dot: ITS NOT ROLEPLAY YOU ASSHOLE

Sunset: can we please change the subject tae somethin that aint this

Death’s Head: oh, actually, ive been meaning to message you Cecropia

Death’s Head: since this isnt really secret i guess i can just ask here?

Cecropia: Ah, I have a feeling what this is about.

Cecropia: Go on.

Death’s Head: hows the search?

Cecropia: As I thought.

Cecropia: As I said, I’d update you with anything big, but I do have the good news that we’re making progress.

Cecropia: With the help of Luna and the Sixth Division, we’ve been looking through any files at all regarding the creature you described.

Cecropia: Oddly enough, the moment we had a creature to stick these descriptions on, we found an alarming amount of files possibly relating back to this creature.

Cecropia: However, we are still searching for any contradictions or false leads before confirming what files belong to this creature and which ones don’t.

Cecropia: In fact, we may need your help in that at some point. Would you be willing to lend a hand needbe?

Death’s Head: yeah definitely, im happy to help!

Death’s Head: sorta used to this sorta thing from working with Atlas as a secretary, so

Cecropia: Great. Otherwise, I don’t have much else to update with you.

Death’s Head: it’s alright. just that was great to hear really! thank you

Dot: the hell are u two up to?

Dot: are u cheating on null

Death’s Head: you make me so tired

Dot: i get that a lot

Cecropia: Death’s Head requested that I, Luna, and any agents in the Japanese Sub-Division look out for a particular creature.

Cecropia: Not necessarily because it’s dangerous, but… what was the reasoning again?

Death’s Head: Null said there’s a creature he considers a brother who visits the human world a lot. i guess i kinda wanna reunite them? and maybe meet this guy… 

Dot: oh shit youre doing the OPPOSITE of cheating

Dot: youre meeting his family damn

Dot: okay props DH youre sick as fuck

Death’s Head: thanks i think?

Bee: NULL HAS A BROTHER???

Sunset: little brother or big brother

Bee: LITTLE BROTHER OR BIG BROTHER!!!

Cecropia: I’d assume big brother if this creature has been around longer than Null has.

Death’s Head: no, thats on earth. Null existed way before Null ever actually physically manifested in the human world. hes actually the older brother !!

Sunset: ah so null gets it

Bee: aww he doesnt get me though :(

Death’s Head: what do you mean sunset?

Death’s Head: i mean, obviously bee is talking about being a little sister, but… 

Sunset: am a big brother you silly cunt

Sunset: tho am sure null probably treats is brother far better than id ever treat my sister

Sunset: still lil siblings are universally annoying

Sunset: gotta be

Sunset: even nulls got his limits

Cecropia: Considering the fact he had torn down the entire Illuminati Headquarters from sheer anger, I would say that’s a yes.

Cecropia: But that was not over a sibling spat, of course.

Dot: could you imagine

Dot: thatd be fucked if true

Sunset: unno dot id tear down a buildin cause of my sister

Sunset: no hesitation

Bee: i hope hornet doesnt feel that way about me ;;

Sunset: naw bee, yer an angel

Sunset: mah sister? the devil

Sunset: aint a soul out there than can compete with the cunts mastermind underhanded tactics

Dot: r u ok

Sunset: last time ah visited she stole mah fuckin garlic bread

Dot: oh

Death’s Head: Oh, something just came up. I’ll have to go. Thanks for the chat guys! I feel a little better. And smarter, I think.

Dot: cant relate

Cecropia: Oh, shush.

Cecropia: Go on then, Death’s Head. I’ll message you the details of what we’ll need your help with ASAP.

Death’s Head: Sure thing, thanks.

DEATH’S HEAD: OFFLINE

Sunset: damn, now am curious aboot this brother o nulls

Bee: me too!!! i didnt know cryptids HAD family!!!

Cecropia: As Death’s Head had explained to me, they technically don’t. However, apparently Null explained that he’s quite good at sticking human terms to very… vague concepts, when it comes to the supernatural.

Cecropia: Brother was the closest word he could use for this creature. So, I doubt he’s his brother in the same sense Bee and Hornet are siblings.

Sunset: tru, dinnae ken anythin about how the supernatural came tae be

Bee: yeah … theyre PROBABLY not born like us… i cant really imagine a baby null… 

Bee: but thats so weird to be born like that!! just… existing!!

Cecropia: And that is exactly why the supernatural and humankind live in separate worlds.

Cecropia: Well… I suppose it’s easier for the supernatural to transition to the human world. But transitioning to the world that the supernatural call home would be devastating for a human being.

Cecropia: Or, so I’ve heard from Agent Owlet.

Sunset: aye, ah remember havin tae send some patients tae therapy over that shite

Sunset: long time ago, musta been some sorta mission

Cecropia: Indeed. Sometime ago there was a mission that caused some agents to nearly get sucked into the supernatural world.

Cecropia: Only one hadn’t survived. Or, so we assume. At the very least, we never saw them again.

Bee: so they might actually just be living like the supernatural do?

Cecropia: Perhaps, but if so, they’ve likely lost all sense of self and their physical form.

Bee: HUH????

Cecropia: Oh, looks like it’s that time again for me to get back to work.

Cecropia: Pleasure talking with you all, though I forgot what my original reason for coming here was… ah, I’ll remember eventually.

Cecropia: Goodbye.

CECROPIA: OFFLINE

Bee: sunset do you know what he was talking about????

Sunset: sorta

Sunset: the victims o that mission explained it a bit

Sunset: couldnt say much, tho

Sunset: thas kinda the whole point o the whole thing

Bee: what do you mean?

Sunset: that other world… is somethin humans cannae explain, bee

Sunset: if theres words out there for it, we dinnae know them

Dot: trippy

Sunset: ah try not tae think aboot it tae much

Bee: but… there’s gotta be SOME way to describe it, right?

Bee: like how Null described his relationship with his brother!

Dot: yeah, but nulls FROM that place so… does that even count?

Bee: huh… thats true…

Bee: ack… getting a headache from all this… im gonna go… 

Bee: but remind me to ask cecropia more about all this sometime!!! im really curious!!!

Dot: sure thing angel, but get some rest now alright?

Sunset: aye, dinnae wear yerself too thin

Bee: hehe, thank you guys !!! i wont!!!!

BEE: OFFLINE

Dot: well i think i need a rest after all that too

Dot: hey, did MOTH ever make a name for that place anyways?

Sunset: if they did, dinnae ken about it

Dot: fair enough… maybe we should ask null to name it for us

Dot: thatd be like… respectful, i guess

Sunset: wouldnt the cunt just call it home? dumbass?

Dot: you actually have a point but im ignoring it

Dot: ANYWAYS, im going to take a fat fucking nap

Dot: gniiiiiiiiiiight

DOT: OFFLINE

Sunset: dumbass

SUNSET: OFFLINE


	5. STORY TWO | CHAPTER TWO

#  STORY TWO | CHAPTER TWO

##  **MOTH ORGANIZATION: PRIVATE CHAT**

WITCH: ONLINE

Witch: Excuse me. Allow me to introduce myself and explain why I’ve messaged you despite us not meeting before.

Witch: I am Agent Witch, of the Third Division. I have been under Agent Owlet’s training as a medium for some time now, but a recent mission had caused me to miss a fair amount of sessions.

Witch: They wanted me to introduce myself to you because we may end up meeting for lessons at same times, and they had suggested I even teach you some of the things you had missed during the time of the incident.

Witch: Likewise, mediums often get matched to missions together, so it is entirely possible that we may meet that way as well.

Witch: With that said, it is an honor to meet you. I’ve heard much about you from Owlet.

Death’s Head: sorry for the late reply, i was in a groupchat

Witch: It’s no problem. Take your time.

Death’s Head: wow, you type really fast… thank you though! um, i guess i dont really have to introduce myself, but, uh, im deaths head. also a medium. secretary when im not being a medium. its nice to meet you! i dont know a lot of mediums. though i guess thats mostly cause memory problems.

Witch: Mediums are not common, despite being high demand.

Witch: So that’s not entirely uncommon to know very little mediums.

Witch: Especially those as high up as us. We are in the two divisions below the Top Division, afterall.

Witch: Mediums aren’t usually needed in groups, therefore there’s not much reason for us to work with other mediums in the lower divisions.

Death’s Head: huh, yeah, that all makes sense… 

Death’s Head: well, it’s nice meeting you!

Witch: I did want to ask one more thing as well, if you don’t mind.

Death’s Head: go ahead :o

Witch: It is hard to hear your agent name without hearing of another as well. Null, the newest member of the Second Division, correct?

Witch: The first supernatural creature in the entire history of MOTH to ever become an agent.

Death’s Head: thats him. whats the question?

Witch: I suppose I’m just curious of how it is, working alongside the supernatural.

Witch: I’ve spent years having very neutral, but beneficial, relationships with the spirits in my home country, as well as the places I’ve been sent to.

Witch: With some spirits, it would be quite rude to consider them friends. Nonetheless, even if it wasn’t so, I highly doubt they’d ever allow me to be that close to them…

Witch: It just seems so odd. I know Null is such a different case, but… I just can’t help but wonder. How does it all work? How did it happen?

Death’s Head: sadly, i cant really tell you how it happened. youll have to ask him sometime yourself. my memory doesnt remember when i first met him, unfortunately…

Death’s Head: but, as for now, it's just… well, hes really not all that different from us. i dont think null is really like other spirits. he likes humans. to a point of sometimes wishing he was one.

Death’s Head: hes still has his oddities and moments where he doesnt quite understand why things work the way they do in our world, but, otherwise, theres not really much i can say… 

Death’s Head: people kinda assume its scary or unsettling or whatever, but im super comfortable with null in my home.

Death’s Head: does that answer your question?

Witch: Yes, thank you.

Witch: I hope I can meet him sometime, he sounds very kind.

Death’s Head: he is! he’s always happy to meet new people

Death’s Head: not a lot of people give him a chance… 

Death’s Head: he comes along for training sometimes, so maybe you will get to meet him sometime soon!

Witch: I’d like that. Thank you, Death’s Head.

Witch: This was a pleasant chat, but I’m afraid I’m quite busy with settling back in after a large mission.

Witch: Thank you for entertaining my curiosity.

Death’s Head: its no problem! see you soon!

Witch: Thank you. Excuse me, now.

WITCH: OFFLINE

DEATH’S HEAD: OFFLINE


	6. STORY TWO | CHAPTER THREE

#  STORY TWO | CHAPTER THREE

##  **NORTH AMERICA | NIGHT**

I really hated doing missions at night.

With a profession like this, it can’t be helped, but at the same time, my profession is exactly what makes me so unsettled. A normal life means passing by without casting a glance to the shadows. Sure, sometimes you might entertain the thought, but usually it’s dismissed as nonsense. Not a MOTH agent. You’re always aware of the things lurking in the dark.

Having Null at my side was a relief, even if it doesn’t stop me from being unsettled by the night. A longtime fear of the dark did not treat me well. I squeeze his hand, not wanting to lose him between the lights of the streetlamps. He doesn’t mind.

“Do you really think this will work?” Null suddenly asks out of nowhere. “I find it hard to believe that I could so easily sway a group by simply existing as I am.”

“Well, the group worships a kinda vague deity… they didn’t base their religion off anything that already exists. As far as we know, this is an entirely new sort of religion,” I explain to him as simply as I can. “So, there’s really no reason for them  _ not  _ to believe that you’re that deity. You don’t look human, so.”

“To think humans can be so easily swayed…” Null muses aloud. “I know nothing of their religion. How foolish of them to so quickly believe.”

“According to the reports, they’re really young people,” I tell him. “Which… is worrisome, considering they’re starting to consider doing… less than ideal things.”

Null raises an eyebrow that I can barely see from under his shaggy hair. “What do you mean?”

I feel a little sick thinking about it. “Stereotypical cult stuff. Bloody kind of things.”

Null gets the picture. He doesn’t ask anymore questions about it.

We arrive pretty quickly to tonight’s destination. Apparently, to avoid getting caught, the group usually moved between locations, and ever since they’ve been getting more and more intense about things, they’ve been moving a lot more. Somehow, MOTH got the details on where tonight’s meetup would be, so this was our chance. I guess leave it up to my neighborhood to have a creepy old abandoned church for kids to summon demons in.

Though abandoned, I note that it isn’t at all in ruins. It’s still perfectly standing, even if dirty and overrun by plants and grass. A tree grows up and out of one of the windows, though a very neat pot with soil sits on the sill of the window beside it. Looks like something was recently planted there. Not exactly subtle, but then again, no reason for people to investigate small things like this.

“How are we supposed to go about this?” Null asks, seemingly uneasy. It wasn’t a fear, so much as it was a doubt. Doubt of any of this working.  _ Wasn’t my plan… _

“So, using the microphone we planted on you, I’m gonna listen in on the conversation or ritual or whatever. Before they finish it, you’re gonna barge in, claiming to be their God. I’ll feed you any info you need and what you should say through the earpiece. If all goes according to plan, you leave, and we go home, mission done.”

“And if not?” Null asks.

I look off to the side, sheepish. “We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it…  _ if  _ we get to it.”

Null gives me yet another doubtful look. “I suppose.”

I shake my head and lead him around to the back of the church. Just as the reports said, there was a broken window, mostly clear of shards of glass, leading inside that we could climb through. Well,  _ Null  _ would climb through, anyhow. If all goes according to plan, I just have to stand outside here and communicate to him… 

“Ready?” I ask him.

He nods.

He climbs through the window without much trouble, despite being as lanky as he is. This must’ve been some sort of back room to the church… I guess where they have all the church… stuff. Oh, hell if I remember, I always hated church as a kid. He’s out of sight the moment he walks through the doorway, and that’s when the nerves settle in. I put in the earpiece with some fumbling, and there’s silence for a bit.

Then, a bit of static accompanies Null’s voice. “They’re setting up some sort of ritual. Do I wait until they are finished?”

“Probably not…” I mutter. “It’s best to try and stop them from even starting any sort of ritual… not that it’d actually work, but we want to try to convince them that they  _ shouldn’t  _ do this.”

“What should I say first?”

I think for a bit. “Probably try to be dramatic…? Like, what someone would think of when they think of some sort of demon king or god… like, Halt! It is your King of Darkness speaking, and you shall listen to my decree! … or something.”

There’s a bit of silence. I’m almost worried the connection cut when Null speaks, “Is that really how humans imagine us to talk?”

I flush a bit. I feel like I might’ve insulted him. “N-No. I was just being dramatic. Get in there before they sacrifice something.”

Once again, silence. It’s unsettling, being crouched down behind an abandoned church during the night, whispering into an earpiece. I should really be more used to these sorts of situations, but without Null by my side, I feel unwell. Still… I should be fine.

“Stop!” Null’s voice rings through the earpiece. “Stop it with this nonsense this instant. Do you truly think such actions are justified to contact your God?”

_ Ugh, that’s way less dramatic but way more cool. I feel so stupid. _

There’s silence again. Then, I stiffen as I hear a younger voice say, “Huh?”

Another voice, a bit deeper, speaks out, “We didn’t even finish the ritual… is this a demon? I can’t understand it.”

“Of course not,” a third voice pipes up, sounding full of themself, “We’re just mortals. I guess we should’ve expected this…”

The first voice shouts, “What the hell are we supposed to do then? I don’t speak static bullshit! What the hell do we do now?”

Oh,  _ fuck _ . We didn’t count on this. You’d think teens dabbling in the occult would have at least some smidge of supernatural experience, but apparently they’re about as magical as a doorknob.  _ Seriously, how? Did they look up how to do a ritual on WikiHow or something? Most people who have come into contact with the supernatural can at least make out a word or two with Null… _

Null’s voice mutters into the earpiece, “It appears they can’t understand me.”

I sigh, whispering, “Wait there.” before I rip the earpiece off and stash it into my bag. I hop over the broken window and open the door into the altar of the church, shuffling awkwardly out to meet the scene of Null standing in front of a group of normal looking people, outside of the matching scarves they all wore. The pews of the church were all moved aside, shoved this way and that to make room for the summoning circle the group was drawing out in the middle. Indeed, they weren’t even finished-chalk still covered their hands and one of them was still on the floor at the outer edge, not yet connecting the ends. They all stare at me as I step down the steps to take my place beside Null, clearing my throat.

“Apologies for my late arrival,” I tell them, and they all stiffen. Guess they were surprised I wasn’t some random homeless man stumbling in. “I am the translator for our lord.”

“You’re my…” Null blinks. “You don’t think this will actually work, do you?”

I ignore him. “He informs me that you have all been trying desperately to contact him, and your efforts have not only been in vain, but causing you to delve into darker and darker means. Is this correct?”

I guess my tone and words must be pretty convincing, because the group in dumbfounded unison all nod, unable to speak despite mouths being open in awe.

“Are you just making up what I’m saying to you?” Null asks.

I just continue, “He says he’s sick of you all trying to please him through such means.”

“I didn’t say that.”

“He also says that you need to stop, as this disrupts the balance of the world.”

“I didn’t say that either.”

“So, basically, knock it off.”

The entire group hesitates for a moment, seeming to look between one another for some sort of approval. Eventually, a young woman steps forward, pushing up the glasses at her nose. When she speaks, I recognize her voice as the third one I heard over the earpiece. “We are sorry to hear that our actions upset our Lord… and we deeply apologize. However, how else are we supposed to appease him and communicate with him?”

“Appease?” Null looks even more in disbelief now. “I am not some seal to throw fish to and teach tricks. This is ridiculous.”

_ Oh, that was a good one.  _ “Our Lord is not a seal to throw fish to and teach tricks. You must leave him be and leave this life of dangerous summoning. There are better ways to worship our Lord.”

The group begins to look uneasy about this. Seems like we’re quickly losing them. The woman speaks directly to me now, “I apologize if this seems… blasphemous, but we are just at a loss. We were under the impression that these were the only ways we could find our lord and find release.”

“Release?” I reflexively ask, confused as ever hell. That wasn’t mentioned in the reports.

She glares. “You’re a messenger, but you don’t even know about the release? In making our Lord happy, we find release from mortal struggles. We’ll be granted endless power.”

Oh, thank god. I thought they meant death or something. “The reason this confuses me is because this isn’t the way to go about that. I know about the release, obviously. You guys are just doing it wrong.”

The woman turns to Null, falling onto her knees and intertwining her hands, looking like a woman praying in a renaissance painting, if that woman wore Nikes and jeans. “My Lord… how can we be released from the pains of daily life? How can we attain power to battle all hardships with ease?”

Null looks down at the woman, bored. “You’re looking for an easy escape to something all people on this Earth must face. Without hardships, there is no real reward. You are spoiled and unable to see hard work and effort as a solution. I cannot help that.”

_ Ugh, c’mon Null… you’re right, but how do I translate all of that into something they’d actually want to hear?  _ I clear my throat, and explain, “He’s asking if you’ve tried yoga.”

She gives me an odd look. “Yoga…?”

“You guys are looking too deeply into it,” I tell them all, addressing each and every last one of them in the room. “You think it’s something superhuman. You’re reading inbetween the lines when the answer is right there. You have the power, you just have to use it. You can’t get rid of stress. That’s part of human nature! But you can do things to calm your mind. You can easily become powerful through totally normal means! Do things that you love. Exercise. Go outside. Water some plants. Stuff like that!”

They all look between one another once more, apparently doubtful of my words. I feel the sweat on the back of my neck as I wait for an answer, though Null looks as unbothered as ever.

“I just… find it hard to believe that a god of such power would truly want that.” The woman explains. “That’s so… normal. Besides his appearance and words, what else even is there to show us the power of this god, if he even is our god?”

Null sighs, reaching out to one of the nearby pews. Without me having to say a word, he grips onto the edge, and cracks of corruption explode throughout the wood, splintering it and withering it away until eventually, all that was left was dust. He looks back to the group, letting out a very tired, “Are we done?”

“I’m so sorry my lord!” The woman has a very quick change of heart, bowing repeatedly as some sort of apology. “I didn’t mean to doubt you at all, I simply did not want to offend you by believing in a fake! I will listen to your words and cease all rituals immediately! I had thought that a disciple had taught us the true way, but apparently they were just a fake…”

_Ah… these guys are really gullible, aren’t they? But… who’s this disciple?_ I can’t get that question out of my head, but I try to shake it off so I can reply, “Our benevolent lord will forgive you with time, if you listen to his words and stop taking part in these dangerous activities. He doesn’t want a cult and sacrifices. He wants you guys to live your best lives.”

The woman is fully bowed on the ground now, forehead touching the floor. Is she crying? She’s shaking as she says, “Thank you, my lord. You are so kind to us. We will not disappoint!”

“Then begone,” Null says, lifting up a hand. Despite their lack of understanding, they all seem to understand the gesture quite well, and the cult quickly scrambles out of the abandoned church, sparing a few glances back before they were finally gone. Null looks to me.

“Was that dramatic enough for you?” he asks.

“Oh, shush,” I roll my eyes. “I was just trying to make it believable. If we’re too normal, they’ll think we’re phonies.”

“We are, as you say, phonies.”

“Well, yes, but we don’t want to act like it.”

I collapse down at the steps up to the altar with a sigh, rubbing at my eyes. Null takes a seat beside me, watching over me carefully. Protective as ever, it’s somewhat comforting. I take out my phone, ready to text back to Atlas that the mission was complete, but I pause for a moment. Null notices.

“Something wrong?” He asks.

“They said some disciple taught them the ‘true’ way or whatever,” I explain. “What do you think of that? After all, they didn’t seem to be a bad group until recently. It’s odd, isn’t it?”

Null shrugs. “Everything humans do is odd to a creature like me.”

“Fair point.”

I text back to Atlas. All in a days work, I suppose.


	7. STORY TWO | CHAPTER FOUR

#  STORY TWO | CHAPTER FOUR

##  **MOTH ORGANIZATION: PRIVATE EMAILS**

FROM: Death’s Head

TO: Atlas

SUBJECT: Mission Report

You’ll find the mission report document attached to this email. If you don’t mind however, I have details to add here that I didn’t find room for in the report… I mention that the group’s assumed leader mentions that they had a disciple try to teach them the “true” way. Considering the circumstances, I didn’t really have the chance to ask more about it, and at least they dismissed this disciple as a fake, so I doubt they’ll be tricked again, but… something about it makes me uneasy.

Do you think there’s someone going around trying to teach people the 'true' way and teaching harmless groups of young, bored, maybe desperate people to do ritualistic sacrifices or something? They were mostly young adults, but I think some teens too. I don’t know if it’s something to worry about if no other cases have popped up, but… it’s kind of worrisome, isn’t it? I just figured I’d bring that up just in case, but… I don’t have any sort of information on it. I wish I had asked more when I could’ve, but… that might’ve seemed suspicious, and they had already doubted us once… 

On top of all that is the fact they couldn’t even understand Null. I know I mentioned it in the report but… doesn’t that seem off to you? How the hell are these random young people with NO real experience in the occult and supernatural getting the resources and knowledge to do actual effective rituals? This disciple person I feel like is the answer to that, and… I’m just weary. There’s no other leads or anything to really do anything about it right now but… maybe if something comes up in the future, that detail might help? I’m not sure.

Anyways, take care Atlas. I’m gonna get some rest. Never put me in a mission as ridiculous as that one again. I think Null would leave me if I made him pull that stunt again.


	8. STORY THREE | CHAPTER ONE

#  STORY THREE | CHAPTER ONE

##  **MOTH ORGANIZATION: PRIVATE EMAILS**

FROM: Cecropia

TO: Death’s Head

SUBJECT: Info on Null’s brother

Greetings, Death’s Head. I figured it’d be much easier to get this all across in one go over email rather than messaging you, though admittedly there isn’t much to send.

The Japanese Sub-Division has finally narrowed down this creature to a few files on hand, but they’re very few and very vague. In fact, we’re sure that anything more substantial would have to come from word of mouth rather than any sort of written report. Still, something is better than nothing, in MOTH.

Japan is not short of many types of spirits and supernatural creatures, so any of these reports could be an entirely different spirit, but we’ve collectively decided that so far, these files I’m sending you are the most relevant files to this brother of Null’s. They all share the traits you’ve described to us, though unfortunately all of these accounts are as vague as Null’s description. Still, if you could go through them with Null and report back about your findings, it’d be appreciated.

Just as a warning, it’s mainly been Luna and I working on this side job. I say this because recently, Luna has been tasked with looking into a possible trickster spirit that’s recently targeted a newly opened up park. Though said spirit hasn’t proven to be dangerous, we are aware of there being high supernatural activity in the area in the past with some more powerful spirits. Better safe than sorry.

Because of this, our work may be a little more delayed. Apologies in advance. You’re free to wait until Luna is free again to pick this up again. Though, Luna is hardly ever without work… I recommend getting it sorted out and sent to me ASAP so we can look at it as soon as she’s finished with her mission.

Best of luck, Death’s Head. Null as well.


	9. STORY THREE | CHAPTER TWO

#  STORY THREE | CHAPTER TWO

##  **MOTH ORGANIZATION: PRIVATE CHATS**

LUNA: ONLINE

POODLE: ONLINE

Luna: Good, you’re online on time.

Poodle: well ya this is the first time youve messaged me at a time that wasnt like 4 in the morning LOL

Poodle: just cuz u dont sleep doesnt mean other people dont :/

Luna: We have different schedules, that’s all. Don’t treat me like the odd one here!

Luna: I have a very strict schedule to keep up my physique. Missing even a day could cause a mistake in an upcoming mission that could’ve been otherwise avoided.

Poodle: ok workaholic whats the deal

Poodle: wat did u wanna discuss

Poodle: im back in the second division now u kno or did u forget :/

Luna: I didn’t forget. I’m fully aware, and I’m glad you’ve returned there.

Luna: But you’re still one of my most trusted friends and allies.

Poodle: oh my god you put friend before ally you really do love me

Poodle: are we married

Poodle: im into men sorry

Luna: You never change, do you?

Poodle: i have a personality disorder

Luna: As expected. You always reply to that with those words. You never change.

Poodle: i feel like i was set up can i have a do over

Luna: No.

Luna: Anyways, there’s a reason I’ve messaged that isn’t catching up.

Luna: I have a mission coming up, and they’ve trusted me to go into it alone, but… 

Luna: Something about it feels like I should bring someone along with me. And you are the best man for the job.

Poodle: wut

Luna: Scroll up and reread my messages if you’re confused.

Poodle: how am i the best for the job i just suck up to atlas and eat hcips

Poodle: hips

Poodle: chisps

Poodle: chips

Luna: Did it really just take you four tries to spell chips right?

Poodle: im eating chips typing gets hard sometimes

Poodle: anyways no thanks

Poodle: like if it was some normal chill mission i would join but ur in the top division luna

Poodle: its never some normal chill mission

Poodle: ill stay in my lane for now LOL

Luna: We’re looking into a trickster spirit. It’s very possibly something to do with kitsune, but we aren’t entirely sure yet.

Poodle: 👀? on god?

Luna: I mean it, yes.

Poodle: okay you got my attention but its not a yes yet

Luna: All expenses will be paid for ahead of time and I will allow recreational time between working on the mission.

Poodle: you drive a hard bargain…. hrmrmhmhmhhmhm…

Poodle: lemme ask atlas abt it

Luna: He’s already aware. I contacted him first thing.

Luna: I technically don’t need permission, but… I figured he would be able to give some insight and advice, so I contacted him nonetheless.

Luna: Well, that, and you are an agent of the Second Division. He must be aware if I’m borrowing you for a mission.

Poodle: hmrmrhmhrmhrhmmrhmrmhmrhmhrmhm

Poodle: okie ill do it :3

Poodle: will u prommy to get me starbucks (prommy is a diff way of saying promise)

Luna: Yes, yes. I… prommy.

Poodle: okie its a deal

Poodle: i mean im still kinda confused why u need me honestly but whatevs

Luna: I don’t know, if I’m being honest. I just have this feeling.

Luna: And MOTH agents have eerily accurate gut feelings about things.

Poodle: r u sure ur not constipated

Luna: I am not.

Poodle: mmkay then yaa ill go with you

Poodle: the office has been booooring lately anyways

Poodle: no juicy deets or gossip

Poodle: dh and null are already old news to me like whatever ive been crushing on mothman since i was 12 im over it

Poodle: give me something GOOD

Luna: Well, that makes only one of us. I find the entire situation to be incredibly interesting.

Luna: We’ve never even befriended supernatural creatures before. Nevermind pursuing a romantic relationship with one.

Luna: It makes me curious just what exactly happened before Death’s Head lost their memories. Before Null actually knew them. What did they do that caused that amount of trust and love to develop, I wonder.

Poodle: why dont u ask them

Luna: Poodle.

Poodle: oh wait lol

Poodle: oop!

Poodle: that was rude nvm

Poodle: wait but couldnt u ask null

Luna: Well… not really. Null DOES have a MOTH profile for in case he ever does feel the need to join us in chats or message one of us personally, but… 

Luna: He’s never used it, according to Winter and Atlas.

Poodle: eh well whatever the excitement will wear off trust me

Poodle: like … im just so over it ive lived my entire life schizophrenic

Poodle: MOTH aint special

Luna: And yet mothman is a different story?

Poodle: yeh

Luna: I see… 

Luna: Well, all that aside, would you like me to give you a briefing on this mission? I’ll refresh your memory once you’re here, but I figure you might want some info now as well.

Poodle: shore ill soak it up like a dirty little sponge

Luna: Um. Ew?

Luna: Anyways.

Luna: This creature has been oddly elusive despite MOTH’s best efforts, hence why despite the lack of danger, we’re handling the case. For the most part, this creature just seems to steal things from people… 

Luna: Though it seems to like food and drinks especially.

Poodle: doesnt rly sound kitsune like

Poodle: tho idk maybe its bored

Poodle: tired of human shit

Poodle: me too

Luna: You’re human.

Poodle: unfortunately

Luna: I’m ignoring that as well.

Luna: Anyhow, witnesses only ever seem to get a quick glance, giving us hardly any information, and cameras seem to have difficulty capturing the creature on tape. It’s not quite on the level of Null where most cameras don’t work altogether, but it blends in quite well to the background.

Luna: The reason we think it might be a kitsune outside of its trickster-like patterns of… well… attack? It seems to have some sort of large appendage. Not an arm, we don’t think, perhaps a tail. We can’t tell.

Poodle: i mean kitsune can disguise themselves cant they? wonder what this one would be doing just out in the open like that

Luna: Considering its ability to evade multiple camera angles, I would say it hardly would have to worry.

Luna: There is one other piece of information on this creature… it’s likely well over 8 feet tall. Perhaps even 9 feet.

Poodle: W

Poodle: WUH

Poodle: THATS TALLER THAN NULL

Poodle: LIKE A LOT TALLER

Poodle: PROBABLY TALLER THAN MOTHMAN

Poodle: WAT

Luna: Considering the very unreliable reports we’ve gotten from witnesses and other agents however, we can’t be entirely sure. It could be shorter or taller.

Luna: Other than that, just be on the lookout for black, white, and red colors. Those have been the colors spotted on this creature.

Poodle: do cryptids just rly like simple color schemes or somthing

Luna: I’m not sure that’s entirely up to them, you know.

Poodle: tru

Poodle: well watever im still in it even if its not a kitsune im bored i want starbuc

Luna: You mean Starbucks?

Poodle: yeh i just didnt want 2 type the ks

Luna: Why?

Poodle: didn wanna

Luna: Whatever. Talk with Atlas to arrange a flight here, and I’ll be waiting wherever you may get off. We’ll get onto the mission ASAP, but I promise if this takes a while we can… I don’t know, do whatever you want to do here, I suppose.

Poodle: fuk ya

Poodle: tanx luna lov u muah muah :*

Luna: I’ll be expecting you.

LUNA: OFFLINE

Poodle: formal as ever i c 🙄

POODLE: OFFLINE


	10. STORY THREE | CHAPTER THREE

#  STORY THREE | CHAPTER THREE

##  **JAPAN | LATE EVENING**

Poodle sips at his Starbucks drink as Luna sets up the cameras within the van, pointing and explaining to the agent that would be watching over them from here. Poodle doesn’t have much to offer, and so he sits at the open back of the van and stares out to the streets and park. It wasn’t his first time in Japan, and certainly wouldn’t be his last. Being part Japanese himself, but born in America, he was always curious to see the culture of that part of him.

It isn’t long before Poodle heard Luna’s boots make their way behind him. He looks up, taking more sips of his drink as Luna looks down at him.

“You ready?” She asks.

He nods. “‘spose so. Still not really sure what we’re looking for if I’m honest.”

Luna sighs as she hops down from the back of the van. “That makes two of us. Just use the basics of how to deal with a spirit until we have more information on exactly what this creature is.”

Poodle nods, getting to his own feet. He was nearly an entire foot shorter than Luna, and that’s without considering how much height her authority added to her. Even as she gets on an earpiece and begins calibrating the meter, she’s intimidating. Though, not all that much anymore to Poodle—Poodle was all too used to her. She was softer than she seemed.

“Oh, right,” Luna looks to Poodle one more time. “Keep an eye out for any similarities to Null’s brother.”

Poodle tilts his head. “Which are?”

Luna shakes her head. “Oh, drat, I forgot to fill you in on that… sorry, I’m so used to working on this with Cecropia, and he already knows…”

Poodle shrugs. “Eh, it’s whatever, Luna. Don’t stress about it. Just tell me.”

Luna thanks the smaller man with her eyes. “What Death’s Head has relayed to us so far is that Null’s brother is very tall, has the same exact color scheme as this creature here, being black, white, and red. He has features of a bird, though we never got detail on exactly what or how. I assume to be on the lookout for something with feathers or a beak. He’s also very slender and lanky, like Null.”

Poodle waits. “That’s it?”

“That’s it.”

“Alright, I’m ready.”

The two, ready with their gear, set off and away from the van and into the park. The park was pretty big, looking like the size of a football field despite Poodle knowing very well it wasn’t, and it was very obviously new; the metal of the fences shined bright in the remaining sunlight. What Poodle noticed almost immediately is that it was mostly decorated by large, trimmed bushes, flowers, statues, all sorts of things you’d see in a fancy little garden. Except this wasn’t a fancy little garden, it was a very professionally made park. Poodle began to understand a little more why it might be hard to catch a cryptid on camera as he passes under grass archways and into different sections of the park.

“This place is beautiful,” Poodle muses aloud. “I can see why a cryptid would wanna hang out here. I’d hang out here.”

“I agree, they did good work on it,” Luna replies, despite her eyes being glued on the meter in her hand. Poodle almost comments that she wasn’t looking, before realizing that she had probably been here before and checked the place out before this. Poodle closes his mouth, feeling defeated before he even spoke.

“There’s definitely heightened levels of activity,” Luna points out, tapping at the screen. “Just as reported, but I think there might be specks of new activity. We may be lucky and get a shot of this creature.”

“Hope it’s a kitsune,” Poodle mutters into his straw.

“Don’t hope, just try to focus on figuring it out,” Luna sighs. “You can’t have bias in these sort of things.”

Poodle glares at the taller woman. “You’re being weird and strict again.”

Luna groans, looking as if she was going to rip all her hair out in clumps any minute now. “I’m sorry. It’s hard to drop habits. Just… know it might not be a kitsune, alright?”

“I know,” Poodle reassures her. “Chill out, Luna. This thing is gonna sense your stress from a mile away.”

Luna takes a deep breath, nodding as the two follow the stepping stones around to different areas of the park, which were for the most part empty at this point. Only some lingering old ladies getting ready to get up and leave were all that was left of life in the park. They were kind, waving to Poodle and Luna as they left. Poodle looks up to Luna with an eyebrow raised.

“What’s up with the grandmas?” He asks.

“Who do you think can appreciate the love and effort put into a garden?” Luna asks.

Poodle thinks for a moment. “Yeah, I… I guess that makes sense.”

“They also like to feed the pigeons.”

“People still do that?”

Luna flushes. “Is it that weird?”

Poodle gasps, “Oh my god. You do old lady things, don’t you?”

“I do not! I’m too busy to be doing things like that.”

“You totally do.”

“Stop teasing! I don’t!”

There’s a shuffle of bushes behind them, and the two whip their heads around, watching. Seconds roll on by, one, two, three, but wind was all they saw. They return to walking along the paths around fountains and beautiful flower displays, getting a read on the entire park before, finally, Luna stopped walking.

“Interesting,” she murmurs.

“Interesting?” Poodle mimics.

“The reports claim that the outer edges are the most commonly visited place,” Luna explains, “But according to my readings, activity is more bunched around the center. I’m not sure how to take this information… I wouldn’t recommend splitting up, but it’d be a shame to miss out on seeing this creature as soon as we can…”

“Could just keep walking around everywhere,” Poodle suggests.

Luna quickly dismisses the idea, “That wouldn’t be effective with just us. That would give this creature plenty of chances to hide.”

“Isn’t that true regardless?”

Luna sighs. “We didn’t think it’d react to us coming here. This creature may be smarter than we originally thought.”

Poodle gets it now. “Should we do this another time with more agents?”

Luna hums in thought as she stares down at the meter, squinting in focus. “I don’t think so. More agents would mean the creature would feel as if it couldn’t enter at all. This way, it feels safe enough to hide. But it’s still here. A chance to catch it, even if just on camera... But how?”

Poodle can’t offer any sort of idea or comfort, and instead loudly slurps on his drink.

Luna glares, muttering, “Stop slurping so loud, you’ll alert it—” and just like that, a lightbulb goes off in her head. “Wait! That’s perfect! It loves drinks, doesn’t it?”

“And?”

Luna gestures to the custom Starbucks cup that Poodle was drinking out of. Poodle protectively hugs the cup to his chest. “Excuse me? Hell no! I paid good money for this custom cup!”

“We’re not gonna let it steal it!” Luna hisses. “We just need it to lure the creature out.”

“I thought you said it was afraid of us.”

Luna shakes her head. “We’re suspecting it might think we’re not just any ordinary presence, but if we act normal… it might work.”

Poodle grunts. “Whatever, but if I get hurt, it’s your fault.”

“Want to miss out on the chance to see a kitsune up close?”

Poodle’s look shoots knives through Luna’s head. “You’re the one saying not to get my hopes up!”

“But it still might!”

“ _ But it still might, _ ” Poodle mocks with a roll of his eyes. “Whatever, fine. I’ll do it. Just tell me what to do.”

Luna is giddy as she sets up the plan. That was one brightside to agreeing to this, Poodle figures. They decide to go to the very center of the park, where a fountain sat right at the middle, and a few benches surrounded the edges of grass. Poodle takes his seat at one, pulling out his phone as he sips at his drink. He might not be an old grandma, but he could act like a normal citizen easily.  _ Maybe this plan isn’t so bad afterall. I can just play games on the job. How many people get to do that? Heh. _

He had a few games on his phone. Typical stuff, really. He decides on one of the many rhythm games he has downloaded, and so he spends his time on the job, tapping furiously at his screen. He might’ve gotten too into it, because when he looks around, he’s lost track of where Luna went off to. Well, if she’s trying to hide from the creature, she’s doing a good job… it’s a little unsettling, but Luna isn’t stupid. She’s likely just hiding… 

He leans over to his drink, reaching for the straw with his mouth, only to find it not there. When he looks over, he comes to a horrifying realization. Something was drinking his drink. He slowly looks behind him, and surely enough, a sight eerie enough to make him sweat was towered over him.  _ And it sure as hell isn’t a kitsune. _

Poodle was used to creepy things, not thanks to his job, but thanks to growing up with schizophrenia all his life. Thanks to MOTH, he’s medicated now, and it’s not quite as horrifying as it used to be back when he was younger… but it’s something that just isn’t new to him. This thing could’ve been dismissed as a hallucination, was it not for the fact that it fit every single criteria for what Luna was looking for.

Also, the fact it was drinking his drink. Which he really didn’t appreciate.

It was certainly fucking _huge_ —Poodle was pretty short to begin with, but this thing was massive—and that’s considering it was hunched over to drink. He can’t even figure out where the hell its mouth is, the bottom half of its face more of a black void than a mouth. Most of its face in general was covered by long, sleek black hair, or at least what Poodle assumed was hair… it  _ looked  _ like hair. The pitch black sheen blended in with so much of the other black on this creature. Most notably, Poodle realizes—its wings.

In shock, Poodle lets go of the drink, and apparently, this was exactly what this creature wanted. Poodle watches in horror as it snatches away the cup with a casual chirp that almost felt like a thank you. At its full height, it was horrifyingly tall, how the hell did this thing evade all the cameras? Poodle gets up, ready to chase after it, but it’s already too late—once he’s facing the creature again, it’s gone. He looks around, dumbfounded at the fact there was no trace of the creature.

_ Or my Starbucks cup… that bastard! _

A shuffling of shrubs. Poodle jumps, holding up fists towards the greenery in a reflex. It’s useless, however, as it’s just Luna who emerges, looking satisfied with herself, despite the multitude of leaves being stuck in her hair.

“I got it!” She chimes in happily. “I got a picture!”

“You just stood there while it drank my drink?!” Poodle asks, somewhat annoyed.

Luna glares. “That was the plan.”

“It took my fucking  _ cup _ !”

“Poodle, we got a picture, that’s way more important!”

“That cup was important to  _ me _ ! And the bastard just took it!”

Luna pinches the bridge of her nose, taking deep breaths. “Let’s return to the van, see if they got any extra footage of it there.”

“My cup, Luna!”

“We’ll get the cup back, for God’s sake! Let’s just get back to the hotel so we can report back.”

Poodle looks like a child as he kicks sadly at the ground. “My cup…”

Despite the successful mission, Luna hardly feels much good about it as Poodle remains disgruntled the entire ride back to the hotel. But… part of Luna missed it. The Top Division was lonely without Poodle, and having him around again made Luna realize that. She can’t help but smile to herself as she goes through all the information gathered from the trip, Poodle nearly asleep beside her.

Even if it was just for one mission, she was glad to have him back.


	11. STORY THREE | CHAPTER FOUR

#  STORY THREE | CHAPTER FOUR

##  **MOTH ORGANIZATION: PRIVATE EMAILS**

FROM: Null

TO: Luna

SUBJECT: RE: Files from the recent search

Tʜᴀɴᴋ ʏᴏᴜ ғᴏʀ ʀᴇᴀᴄʜɪɴɢ ᴏᴜᴛ ᴛᴏ ᴍᴇ. I ᴜɴᴅᴇʀsᴛᴀɴᴅ ɪᴛ ɪs ɪɴᴄʀᴇᴅɪʙʟʏ ɪɴᴛɪᴍɪᴅᴀᴛɪɴɢ ᴛᴏ ᴇᴍᴀɪʟ ᴍᴇ ᴅɪʀᴇᴄᴛʟʏ, ᴀɴᴅ ᴀᴍ ᴛʜᴀɴᴋғᴜʟ ʏᴏᴜ’ᴠᴇ ᴅᴏɴᴇ sᴏ ʀᴇɢᴀʀᴅʟᴇss. I ᴀᴘᴏʟᴏɢɪᴢᴇ ғᴏʀ ʙᴇɪɴɢ ᴏᴛʜᴇʀᴡɪsᴇ ᴜɴᴀʙʟᴇ ᴛᴏ ᴄᴏɴᴛʀɪʙᴜᴛᴇ ᴅɪʀᴇᴄᴛʟʏ. I ᴀᴍ ᴏ̨ᴜɪᴛᴇ ʟɪᴍɪᴛᴇᴅ ɪɴ ᴍʏ ᴀʙɪʟɪᴛɪᴇs ᴛᴏ ᴅɪʀᴇᴄᴛʟʏ ɪɴᴛᴇʀᴀᴄᴛ ᴡɪᴛʜ MOTH, ᴇᴠᴇɴ ᴇʟᴇᴄᴛʀᴏɴɪᴄᴀʟʟʏ. As ʏᴏᴜ'ʀᴇ ʟɪᴋᴇʟʏ ᴀᴡᴀʀᴇ, ᴛʜɪs ɪs ᴍʏ ғɪʀsᴛ ᴛɪᴍᴇ I'ᴠᴇ ᴇᴠᴇɴ ᴜsᴇᴅ ᴛʜɪs ᴘʀᴏғɪʟᴇ.

Yᴏᴜʀ ᴇғғᴏʀᴛs ʜᴀᴠᴇ ʙᴇᴇɴ ᴀᴄᴋɴᴏᴡʟᴇᴅɢᴇᴅ ᴀɴᴅ ᴀᴘᴘʀᴇᴄɪᴀᴛᴇᴅ, ᴀs ᴡᴇʟʟ ᴀs ʜᴀᴠᴇ ʙᴏʀᴇ ғʀᴜɪᴛ. Tʜᴇʀᴇ ɪs ɴᴏ ᴅᴏᴜʙᴛ ɪɴ ᴍʏ ᴍɪɴᴅ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ɪɴ ᴛʜᴏsᴇ ᴘɪᴄᴛᴜʀᴇs ᴀʀᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ᴄᴀᴘᴛᴜʀᴇᴅ ɪᴍᴀɢᴇ ᴏғ ᴍʏ ʙʀᴏᴛʜᴇʀ, Oʀɪᴢᴜʀᴜ. I ᴀᴘᴏʟᴏɢɪᴢᴇ ᴏɴ ʙᴇʜᴀʟғ ᴏғ ʜɪᴍ ғᴏʀ ᴀɴʏ ᴛʀᴏᴜʙʟᴇ ʜᴇ ʜᴀs ᴄᴀᴜsᴇᴅ ᴀɴʏ ᴏғ ʏᴏᴜ. Tʜɪs ɪs ᴜɴғᴏʀᴛᴜɴᴀᴛᴇʟʏ ɴᴏᴛ ɴᴇᴡ ᴀɴᴅ ɪᴛ ᴡɪʟʟ ʟɪᴋᴇʟʏ ʜᴀᴘᴘᴇɴ ᴀɢᴀɪɴ ᴜɴᴛɪʟ ᴡᴇ ᴄᴏɴғʀᴏɴᴛ ʜɪᴍ.

Dᴇᴀᴛʜ’s Hᴇᴀᴅ ɪɴғᴏʀᴍᴇᴅ ᴍᴇ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴛʜᴇʏ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ᴄᴏɴᴛᴀᴄᴛᴇᴅ ᴛʜᴇ ᴏɴᴇ ᴄᴀʟʟᴇᴅ Aᴛʟᴀs ᴛᴏ sᴇᴇ ᴡʜᴀᴛ ᴍᴀʏ ʜᴀᴘᴘᴇɴ ɴᴇxᴛ. I ɪɴsɪsᴛ ᴛʜᴀᴛ I ɢᴏ ᴀɴᴅ sᴘᴇᴀᴋ ᴛᴏ ʜɪᴍ ᴍʏsᴇʟғ, ʙᴜᴛ ᴀʟᴀs, ᴛʜᴇ ᴀɢᴇɴᴄʏ ɪs ᴇᴠᴇʀ ʜᴇsɪᴛᴀɴᴛ ᴛᴏ ᴀʟʟᴏᴡ ᴍᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ᴄᴏᴜʀᴛᴇsʏ.

I’ᴍ ᴀғʀᴀɪᴅ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ɪs ᴀʟʟ I ᴄᴀɴ ᴏғғᴇʀ, ᴀs ᴍʏ ᴛɪᴍᴇ ɪs ʟɪᴍɪᴛᴇᴅ. I ʜᴀᴠᴇ ᴀʟʀᴇᴀᴅʏ ʙʀᴏᴋᴇɴ ᴛʜᴇ ᴅᴇᴠɪᴄᴇ ᴄᴀʟʟᴇᴅ ᴛʜᴇ “Sᴘᴀᴄᴇ Bᴀʀ” ᴏɴᴄᴇ ʙᴇғᴏʀᴇ ᴀɴᴅ I’ᴍᴀ ғʀᴀɪᴅɪᴛ’s ᴄʟᴏsᴇᴛᴏʙʀᴇᴀᴋɪɴɢᴀɢᴀɪɴ.Oʜ.Dᴇᴀᴛʜ’sHᴇᴀᴅʜᴀsɪɴғᴏʀᴍᴇᴅᴍᴇᴛʜᴀᴛɪᴛɪsʙʀᴏᴋᴇɴ.Iᴡɪʟʟɢᴏɴᴏᴡ.


	12. AGENT NULL

#  AGENT NULL

##  **MOTH ORGANIZATION: AGENT PROFILE DATABASE**

=========================

NAME: Null

AGENT NAME: Null

DIVISION: Second Division

AGENT LEVEL: 10

AGE: ???

BIRTHDAY: ???

OCCUPATION: Supernatural being, Field Agent, Medium

POSITION: Trainee

FAMILY: Orizuru (brother?)

STATUS: TBD

NOTES: The first ever employed supernatural being at MOTH. Despite his appearance, he’s very kind and understanding, and eager to help where he can. However, he is still kept under watch as he is still not human and therefore prone to mistakes and misunderstandings that can be dangerous. It is also worth noting that not every single MOTH agent will be able to understand him.

He is very useful on the field however, effortlessly able to communicate with almost any supernatural being, and having an influence over them as he is apparently a very ancient and well respected supernatural being among them. He is also useful for protecting other agents, seeing that as far as we can tell, he’s entirely immortal.

When in public areas where confidentiality is a concern, Null is to be referred to as “Noel”, to avoid suspicion and conceal his identity to the best of our ability.

Any issues, questions, or requests of Agent Null are often to be taken to Agent Death’s Head, as they are in charge of all things related to him.

=========================


End file.
